Women Deliver 100: 26 - 50

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, NigeriaCo-founder and former Executive Director of the African Women’s Development Fund, Founder of the African Women’s Leadership Institute

Issue: PhilanthropyHow she delivers for women: Adeleye-Fayemi believes in the potential of women-led NGOs in Africa, and is proving to the world that women can transform their communities when offered the resources they need. She is the founder of the African Women’s Leadership Institute, which has trained over 5,000 women from across the continent to lead community-based organizations. In 1995, she co-founded the African Women’s Development Fund, which currently supports over 800 women-led NGOs. In 2005, she set up a specific fund for women taking the lead in addressing HIV/AIDS, which has infected over 12 million women in sub-Saharan Africa. Adeleye-Fayemi is a true leader: one who sees potential in other women, and will not rest until she sees that potential fulfilled.Learn more: http://www.womensfundingnetwork.org/about/board/bisi-adeleye-fayemi

Issue: Women’s health and corporate social responsibilityHow he delivers for women: While traveling in Africa and India as a teenager, Frandsen witnessed first-hand the suffering caused by malaria and by the lack of access to clean drinking water – suffering borne predominantly by children and women. Malaria causes up to 10,000 maternal deaths annually, and unclean drinking water claims more lives each year than war. Girls and women devote countless hours to fetching clean drinking water – hours that could be spent at school and work. As CEO of his family-owned company, Frandsen is committed to addressing this. Guided by the principle, “profit for a purpose,” Vestegaard Frandsen aims to make a difference while making a profit, and has developed life-saving products including the anti-malarial mosquito net PermaNet, and the Lifestraw water filter. Frandsen and his company are committed to the belief that doing business means, most importantly, doing good.Learn more: http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/our-passion/about-our-ceo

Janette Loreto Garin, PhilippinesDeputy Majority Leader in the Philippine House of Representatives

Issue: Reproductive rightsHow she delivers for women: Garin is the co-author of the Reproductive Health Care and Population Development (RH) bill, which is poised to transform the lives of every woman in the Philippines. In this deeply Catholic country, where opposition to family planning and sex education runs strong, and 11 women die each day of preventable causes related to pregnancy or childbirth, Garin’s RH bill would, for the first time, provide universal access to family planning methods as well as comprehensive sex education in schools. A champion of women’s human rights, Garin is fighting to bring both women and men the information and services they need to live long, healthy lives.Learn more: http://www.congress.gov.ph/members/search.php?id=garin-j&congress=14

Issue: Women’s and children’s healthHow she delivers for women: Melinda Gates is a rare combination – a passionate advocate for girls and women, and a powerful donor who puts her money where her mouth is. Women’s health is her personal priority, and when one of the world’s richest women signals that the lives of women matter, people pay attention. Her own foundation is committing more than one billion dollars to these issues over the next five years, and pushing for other donors to follow suit. Whether sitting with a head of state or a village leader, Gates is a tireless advocate for the importance of investing in girls and women, delivering practical solutions that will save millions of lives.Learn more: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/leadership/Pages/melinda-gates.aspx

Issue: Reproductive health and developmentHow she delivers for women: Gawanas is tasked with uniting the 53 African Union nations behind an agenda advancing women’s rights and access to healthcare – not an easy job, but one she has embraced. A veteran human-rights activist and lawyer who prevailed over gender and racial discrimination to pursue her law degree, Gawanas is now the African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs, coordinating regional policies on issues including health, nutrition, employment, and crime. She has been a force for women’s reproductive rights, pushing the AU to reinvigorate family planning, develop youth-friendly services, and boost reproductive healthcare. And in 2009 she launched CARMMA: the Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa, which pushes nations to report each and every maternal death. A tireless advocate for Africa’s women, Gawanas has traveled the continent repeating the mantra: “No woman should die giving life.”Learn more: http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/AUC/AUCleaders/sa.doc

Issue: Women’s empowerment and poverty eradicationHow she delivers for women: In 2006, Gayle became the first woman, the first person of color, and the first doctor to head CARE, the international anti-poverty organization which is one of the most powerful allies of poor women worldwide. CARE has placed women at the heart of its work, which includes over 800 anti-poverty projects reaching 59 million people in 72 countries; the organization has insisted that empowering girls and women is the key to fighting global poverty. A public health expert and epidemiologist, Gayle spent three decades at the CDC and the Gates Foundation working on health issues like HIV/AIDS, and she brought to CARE a keen awareness of the impact of social inequity, especially unequal access to healthcare. Under her leadership, CARE is empowering women worldwide to lift themselves from poverty and push for lasting social change.Learn more: http://www.care.org/about/bio_gayle.asp

Issue: Conflict resolution and gender equalityHow she delivers for women: When Gbowee speaks, everybody listens. This fierce mother of six rallied Liberia’s women to bring down a dictator and end a civil war, and she hasn’t stopped there. In 2003, Gbowee organized women in her church to demonstrate for an end to Liberia’s 14-year civil war. That small demonstration grew into a nationwide, nonviolent women’s movement, as Gbowee led an unprecedented alliance of Christian and Muslim women to hold sit-ins, pray, sing, dance, confront armed rebels and eventually hold a sex strike, demanding an end to the war. Their two-year campaign forced President Charles Taylor from power, and helped elect Ellen Johnson Sirleaf the first female president of Liberia. Gbowee now runs the Women Peace and Security Network - Africa, organizing women in places like the Congo to follow the Liberian example. She has erased any doubt that women have the power to take control of their own destinies and determine the fate of nations.Learn more: http://www.wipsen-africa.org/wipsen/who/founders/

Adrienne Germain, USAPresident of the International Women’s Health Coalition

Issue: Reproductive health and women’s rightsHow she delivers for women: Over the course of her career, Germain’s work has prompted a sea-change in global health priorities, bringing the health and rights of women front and center. In her work at the Population Council and as the Ford Foundation’s youngest – and first female – country director (in Bangladesh), she designed programs to advance the health and education of girls and women in Africa, Asia and Latin America. She went on to work with the Bangladeshi government, redesigning national development strategies to address gender inequality. As President of the International Women’s Health Coalition, she has turned the organization into a leading global advocate for women’s sexual health and rights. She remains one of the most prominent leaders in international women’s health advocacy, ensuring that the needs of women are never forgotten.Learn more: http://www.iwhc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2734&Itemid=61

Rafia Ghubash, BahrainFormer President of the Arabian Gulf University, President of the Arab Network for Women in Science and Technology

Issue: EducationHow she delivers for women: Ghubash is transforming science and technology research in the Arab world—one woman at a time. As the former president of the Arabian Gulf University in Bahrain and president of the Arab Network for Women in Science and Technology (ANWST), Ghubash is committed to advancing women’s education and correcting the gender imbalance in the fields of science and technology. She has launched a professional network and database to highlight the research of Arab women scientists and promote female leadership in a field where women often progress more slowly than men. As a woman with her Ph.D. in community and epidemiological psychiatry, Ghubash belongs to an exclusive club – but she’s striving to throw open the doors and welcome more women inside.Learn more: http://astf.net/womenrdi/rafiaghubash.html

Rebecca Gomperts, NetherlandsDoctor and Founder of Women on Waves and Women on Web

Issue: Safe abortion access and reproductive rightsHow she delivers for women: In 2001, Gomperts hatched an extraordinary plan to save lives and demonstrate that access to safe abortion should know no boundaries: the Dutch doctor and her team sail their ship to countries where abortion is restricted, anchoring in international waters to provide reproductive health counseling and safe medical abortions. Their website offers medical advice to women without access, and will even mail medication for a safe abortion. In countries where abortion is restricted, Women on Waves is quite literally a life saver, and their innovative tactics have yielded results: the boat’s 2004 visit to Portugal is credited with making abortion an election-year issue, and the country has since legalized first trimester abortions. While some 20 million unsafe abortions still happen each year, making it a leading cause of maternal deaths worldwide, Gomperts’ fierce commitment to the right to choose is making waves.Learn more: http://www.womenonwaves.org/

Geeta Rao Gupta, USAFormer President of the International Center for Research on Women, Senior Fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Issue: Women’s rightsHow she delivers for women: Gupta is the policy-maker and activist’s crucial ally in advancing women’s rights, delivering the research which undergirds the advocacy. In the 1990s, she led a ground-breaking, 15-country study that identified the social and economic factors fueling the spread of HIV/AIDS among women. That research has transformed international policy on women and AIDS well into the 21st Century, and she remains a vital adviser to policy makers and advocates worldwide. Her rigorous research, unfailing generosity and commitment to improving women’s lives have delivered results around the world.Learn more: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/leadership/Pages/geeta-rao-gupta.aspx

Issue: Obstetric fistulaHow she delivers for women: For more than 50 years, Hamlin has provided free fistula repair to poor women in desperate need. The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, which she founded with her husband in 1974, has treated more than 35,000 women suffering from obstetric fistula, a horrific childbirth injury that leaves women incontinent and stigmatized, and affects two to three million worldwide. Hamlin pioneered many of the techniques used to treat fistulas today, and founded a midwifery college to improve fistula prevention. It is no exaggeration to say that her care gives women back their lives. At age 87, she still performs operations herself, and remains an abiding force caring for women who have been disabled in childbirth and cast aside as a result.Learn more: http://www.hamlinfistula.org.au

Issue: Girls’ empowermentHow she delivers for women: At just 15, Hathi founded Girls Helping Girls, an international organization which taps the power of girls worldwide to collaborate, support each other and become engines of social change. The organization connects girls in the US with girls in the developing world to identify problems in their local communities – and then develop projects, funded by small loans, to address them. Hathi’s goal is to help all girls realize how powerful they are – and on that front, she has delivered. Now 19 and a sophomore at Yale, Hathi still runs the organization, and thousands of girls have joined her. We expect great things from this young powerhouse!Learn more: http://www.empoweragirl.org

Issue: Global feminism and social mediaHow she delivers for women: At 26, Heroy is a blogger with a vision and a mission. In 2009, she realized that there was something missing in the burgeoning feminist blogosphere: there was no feminist blog focused on gender issues outside the US. Heroy founded Gender Across Borders (GAB) to fill that gap. She and a team of feminist bloggers built GAB from the ground up, creating a blog dedicated to examining gender, race, sexuality, and class worldwide. Heroy and her team are amplifying the voices of feminists around the globe, driven by the conviction that “global feminism” is not only the wave of the future, but the next wave of feminism.Learn more: http://www.genderacrossborders.com

Wajeha Al-Huwaider, Saudi ArabiaJournalist, Poet, Co-founder of the Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights

Issues: Women’s rights and gender equalityHow she delivers for women: In Saudi Arabia, where women cannot legally drive or even enter most public spaces without a male guardian, Al-Huwaider is an outspoken journalist, poet, and activist for women’s rights. In 2003, she was banned from publishing her work in most Saudi papers, but has continued to write online. She launched a series of “video campaigns,” circulated online, to decry practices like child marriage, polygamy, and the nation’s guardianship laws, which prevent women from traveling, studying, marrying or seeking healthcare without male permission. In 2008, she filmed herself driving, and the video attracted over 200,000 views on Youtube and sparked international calls for Saudi Arabia to lift its ban on women driving; the ban remains in place. Despite intense pressure from the Saudi government including arrests and interrogations, Al-Huwaider remains a vehement voice for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia.Learn more: http://www.englishpen.org/writersinprison/writersinexile/wajehaalhuwaider/

Edna Adan Ismail, SomalilandDirector of the Edna Adan University Hospital, President of Victims of Torture, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and of Social Affairs

Issue: Maternal and child health, female genital cutting and violence against womenHow she delivers for women: A true pioneer, Ismail was the first woman in Somaliland to drive, the first to receive official nurse-midwifery training, and she established the country’s first non-profit maternity hospital. When she built her hospital, civil war had left the country’s health system in ruins, and Somaliland had one of the highest maternal death rates in the world. Ismail has made it her mission to turn the health system around. She is an outspoken advocate against female genital cutting and one of the nation’s only doctors providing treatment for women with obstetric fistulas, a devastating and isolating injury. She is a hero in Somaliland, and her work saves the lives of hundreds of women each year.Learn more: http://www.ednahospital.org/

Issue: Gender equality and developmentHow she delivers for women: Okonjo-Iweala has shattered glass ceilings across continents and sectors, and fought to put women and gender at the center of the international development agenda. Currently a director of the World Bank, she was the first woman to serve as Nigeria's Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Finance Minister, and she was instrumental in increasing government transparency and combating corruption in the country, which was once ranked the most corrupt place on Earth. She then went on to co-found the Makeda Fund, which invests in women-owned businesses across Africa with the goal of spurring investment, employment, and economic power among Africa’s women. Okonjo-Iweala has been an outspoken advocate for gender equality, calling it a central component of the Bank’s fight against global poverty. She is both a powerful example and a fierce advocate for women on the world stage.Learn more: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21687298~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html

Issue: LGBT rightsHow she delivers for women: In a country where coming out can mean putting one’s life on the line, Jacqueline has stood up as both a proud lesbian and an advocate for LGBT rights. She founded Freedom and Roam Uganda to speak out against homophobia, train LGBT individuals as community leaders, and raise awareness of human rights abuses. In 2010, when the Ugandan newspaper Rolling Stone published pictures and addresses of 100 LGBT individuals next to the headline “Hang Them,” Jacqueline and two other advocates won a landmark case against the paper – the first legislative decision in Uganda protecting the rights of LGBT individuals. She has endured repeated threats, but remains undeterred, lobbying against the country’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which would punish homosexuality with death. For her unimaginable courage in the face of slander, death threats and stifling oppression, we honor Jacqueline as a true hero.Learn more: http://www.oslofreedomforum.com/speakers/kasha-jacqueline.html

Guo Jianmei, ChinaFounder of the Women’s Legal Research and Services Center and Qian Qian Law Firm

Issue: Women’s rightsHow she delivers for women: Inspired by the events surrounding the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, Guo founded one of the first organizations in China committed to women’s legal aid. Her center’s free legal services and support hotline have reached more than 100,000 women, and Guo and her team have brought pioneering lawsuits against workplace discrimination and domestic violence, and argued cases on rape, forced abortion, and women’s land rights. Working in the face of threats and under enormous pressure, Guo’s organization has not only represented China’s most vulnerable women, but principles of equality and justice for women countrywide. In 2010, its official association with Peking University was terminated, leaving its future unclear. Guo, however, has promised that the work will continue.Learn more: http://www.hurights.or.jp/archives/focus/section2/2010/06/farewell-beida-statement-by-guo-jianmei-and-her-team.html

Issue: Women’s economic empowerment, women’s health, and violence against womenHow she delivers for women: Avon calls itself "the company for women," and Jung has made sure it lives up to its billing. As the company’s first female chief executive, Jung has recruited more women to Avon’s board than any other large public company, and ensured that the percentage of women in Avon’s top management exceeds any company on the Fortune 500. Avon also employs more women than any company in the world, offering its 6.2 million sales representatives, in more than 100 countries, a route to self-employment, empowerment, and economic independence. Jung has been the driving force behind the company’s philanthropic arm, the Avon Foundation for Women, which has dedicated more than $725 million to campaigns to eradicate breast cancer and end violence against women. She has made sure that Avon remains an invaluable partner for women worldwide.Learn more: http://avoncompany.com

Imtiaz Kamal, PakistanMidwife, Secretary General of the National Committee for Maternal Health, Vice President of the Maternity and Child Welfare Association of Pakistan (MCWAP)

Issue: MidwiferyHow she delivers for women: Kamal is a woman who delivers, in every sense of the word. Known as the grandmother of midwifery in her native Pakistan, she’s helped hundreds of women in more than fifty countries deliver babies safely, and for five decades she has led a one-woman crusade for the respect and recognition of midwives worldwide. Kamal was instrumental in developing training curriculum and campaigning for legislation to support and protect those caring for mothers and babies in some of the farthest reaches of the world. She is currently developing Pakistan’s first-ever legislation governing the practice of midwifery. Truly a midwife’s midwife, she is fighting to provide her fellow caretakers with the rights and resources they need to make sure no woman dies while giving life.Learn more: http://www.midwiferytoday.com/international/Pakistan.asp

Issue: Women’s healthHow she delivers for women: A former sex worker herself, Kemunto was alarmed by the high death rates due to HIV/AIDS among sex workers in Busia, Kenya. She started a peer education network called the ‘Survivors’ to educate sex workers on health and legal rights, and has trained a group of ‘Survivors’ to act as community health workers among an estimated 1,000 women in Busia’s sex trade. She and her allies have launched microfinance and micro-insurance programs to help smooth workers’ income shocks – shocks which sex workers often manage by accepting riskier, and higher paid, sex. According to the group, not one of the ‘Survivors’ has died in the past three years. Through her innovative efforts to ensure the health and rights of Busia’s sex workers, Kemunto is empowering women to protect themselves.

Imane Khachani, MoroccoMember of the Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights

Issue: Reproductive health and rightsHow she delivers for women: At only 29, Moroccan physician Khachani has already made her mark in the fight for young women’s sexual and reproductive rights. She speaks passionately and frankly about the discrimination, exclusion, and severe lack of access young people face in seeking sexual and reproductive health care. And she advocates a wide-ranging approach to reducing maternal mortality, from ending the child marriages that lead to premature pregnancy, to making abortion safe and accessible, to ensuring universal education, including sex education. Khachani isn’t afraid to speak truth to those in power who are so often blind to the needs of young women, and her work advocating for youth-friendly health services has helped to shape international policies. A voice for her generation, Khachani reminds us that young women, speaking for themselves, can be their own most powerful advocates.Learn more: http://www.youthcoalition.org/html/member.php?ind=mmb&id_member=26&id_cat=2

Issue: Women’s and children’s healthHow he delivers for women: Since taking the reins at the UN in 2007, Ban has made maternal and child health a personal priority, and urged the international community to do the same. He has ramped up global efforts to meet Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 – improving maternal health – and has maintained that improving maternal health is key to achieving all the MDGs. In 2010, Ban launched his $40 billion “Every Woman Every Child” plan to save 16 million mothers and children over five years. A role model of transparency and delivering for women, Ban established an accountability commission to track and report on how each dollar of his plan is spent – and ensure that resources reach the girls and women who need them most.Learn more: http://everywomaneverychild.org/

Anuradha Koirala, NepalFounder of Maiti Nepal, 2010 CNN Hero of the Year

Issue: Human trafficking and women’s rights in NepalHow she delivers for women: For thousands of women in Nepal, Koirala is the force standing between them and the brothel. Since opening Maiti Nepal in 1993, Koirala has helped rescue and support some 12,000 Nepali women and girls, providing free shelter, medical care, legal defense, and education to those who have been traded, devalued, and exploited. Maiti Nepal runs prevention programs, educating communities and even raiding brothels, and sends daily teams to intercept traffickers at the border – Koirala can sometimes be found there herself, checking vehicles for Nepali girls being taken into India. Koirala’s goal? To deliver all women from slavery. Until that’s achieved, she says, she won’t rest.Learn more: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/archive10/anuradha.koirala.html